Help readers understand the roles of authors and illustrators and why they have been recognized by medals of excellence. Your class will discuss and then create illustrations for a book. When they have finished, you can hold your own...

Every child is an author with this engaging reading activity. First the class reviews the various parts of a book such as the title, author, dedication, and author-biography. Then each individual will choose a story of their...

Pupils analyze the components of a book to use it as a model for the creation of their own book. The title, author, illustrator, front cover, back cover, dedication page, and author are examined in this activity.

Create meaningful illustrations to accompany stories in a web-based art and literacy lesson focused on "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling. The class takes a virtual art safari with the Museum of Modern Art and then discusses how...

Plan a Parts of a Book scavenger hunt. Begin by giving your young adventurers a book, and asking them to find the title, author, illustrator, and table of contents. After a discussion of the purpose of each of these items, class members...

Students create their own illustrated book. In this illustration lesson, students review books given the Caldecott award. They create their own illustrations for a book and digitally scan them to a computer to make their pages. 

Introduce young writers to the process of writing a book. Start by reading a book of your choice and discussing the essential elements of any book such as the cover, story, and illustrations as well as who is responsible for each...

Who is Hattie? Youngsters explore animal characteristics by reading poems and stories in class. They read the book Hattie and the Fox about a fictitious fox and his drama with the other farm animals. Then they reread the story over...

What a creative and engaging project to incorporate into your studies of the 1920s! Your young historians will work in groups to design a magazine discussing the political and cultural topics of the decade, each member writing one...

Explore the relationship between sports and physics in a cross-curricular lesson. Middle and high schoolers prepare a multimedia presentation based on a chosen sport. They answer five physics vocabulary questions about how the laws of...

Students examine three different versions of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and complete a comparison activity. Their own version of the poem is created and illustrated in this lesson.

Students search into a variety of story elements in the eight lessons of this unit. The title, author, illustrator, setting, main character, problem, solution, events and the story are the components of the lessons.

Students construct a geography dictionary. For this geography lesson, students work in small groups to construct a dictionary of geographic terms. Students use illustrations and descriptions to develop their geographic dictionaries.

Students complete a craft project.  In this Mother's Day lesson plan, students learn about Mother's Day around the world, write an essay about their mother, create a Mother's Day card, create coupons for meaningful time with their...

Learners participate in a variety of emergent and early-literacy activities based on a "friendship" theme. Learners listen to the book Do You Want to Be My Friend by Eric Carle, then echo read, choral read, and independently read...

Students draw names of dinosaurs out of a hat and write a report about the one they picked. Students write a riddle about their favorite prehistoric animal, post it on a bulletin board, and have other guess which animal it is about....

Students visit an online museum and storybook to examine what life was like for African Americans during and after the Civil War.

Students complete a variety of activities related to the folktale from India, "The Drum." They listen to the story and answer comprehension questions, construct a coffee can drum, and complete a phonics and matching worksheet.

Learners work collaboratively to create PowerPoint presentations on an author of their choice. This lesson is written for a first and third grade joint project with students pairing up across grade levels.

Students read the book On the Seashore and complete activities such as reading a book, color and cut out animal cards, model rock making, shell graphing, shell patterns, and more. In this seashell lesson plan, students use the sea...

Third graders read and study William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and make a booklet of twenty illustrated quotations from William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar.

Left-to-right, left-to-right, that's the way we read and write! Watch this short video clip and teach your young learners this chant before they start writing! 

Students observe book ads from Reading Rainbow and decide on a book to write an ad for. They prepare an ad and produce it using a digital camcorder and software.

Learners create a mixed media collage. For this visual arts lesson, students look at the work of Jane Ash Poitras. They create their own collage that shows their personal and collective history and experiences.